I lost my Umnumzaan today...

Joined
Feb 6, 2012
Messages
417
:eek:

...but only for a minute.

:stupid:

Long story short, I was treating my buddy and his young son to some dinner at a local Italian joint, and after cutting up my chicken with my Umnumzaan (omnomzaan?), I didn't immediately put it back into my pocket. Chit chat and refills and time went by, and I'd completely forgotten that I'd left the thing loose on my lap. Leaving, I stood up, was distracted in greeting an old schoolmate, and didn't even notice as the knife fell to the floor under the table. Thankfully, a fellow diner saw it all happen, and she came running out of the restaurant hollering frantically about "you dropped this" and "pocket knife" that. When I realized what'd happened, I was awfully embarassed, and I told her how she just saved me a hefty chunk of change (and restored a little of my waning faith in humanity).

The Umnum, of course, is no worse for wear, but I'm still upset with myself. I've EDC'd reasonably high end knives for over a decade now, and I've never lost one like this. Misplaced around the house, sure, but this could've been disastrous to the old psyche.

What I'm most upset about, though, is that I didn't give her any reward beyond a spout of Thank Yous. I had a $20 bill in my pocket, and if I'd been thinking, I'd've given it to her on the spot.

I hope my apparent gratitude was enough, though. That old lady really did me a favor today.

Here it is back with my trusty Model M:

tumblr_mc2meyDbY61rjounfo1_1280.jpg
 
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That's could have been a real disaster. It's good to hear it was just handed back, it's always nice when stuff like that happens.

A friend of mine left his phone in a restaurant sitting on the table. He walked out side to his car realised he had left it inside so went in to get it back. It was gone and no one saw or heard anything of course. Not being a dafty by any means he got one of his friends that was with him to call his phone, and guess what ? It was in the waiters apron pocket. :rolleyes::thumbdn:
 
You can always email the Manager and compliment the Waitress for her service, honesty and situational awareness; underscoring the fact that she's the reason why their establishment will receive your repeat business. Depending upon the restaurant's employee recognition policy, your comments may propel her to Employee of the Month, which may result in monetary compensation. Glad you got your Mighty Zaan back, hats off to the Patriot who returned it and to you too for taking your buddy and his son out to dinner.:thumbup:
 
Glad to hear there are folks out there that want to help a fellow human being out. Harder and harder to find these days. What is also sad is that many don't appreciate or acknowledge help when it's given. Way to be to the both of you! Glad you didn't lose your zaan.
 
You can always email the Manager and compliment the Waitress for her service, honesty and situational awareness; underscoring the fact that she's the reason why their establishment will receive your repeat business. Depending upon the restaurant's employee recognition policy, your comments may propel her to Employee of the Month, which may result in monetary compensation. Glad you got your Mighty Zaan back, hats off to the Patriot who returned it and to you too for taking your buddy and his son out to dinner.:thumbup:

I think it was a "fellow diner" who found the knife, and not an employee of the diner.


I'm glad everything worked out OP. :D

All things considered, it sounds like you had a great day.
 
That is a scary feeling of losing such a fine tool. Seeing your title/intro made my stomach drop ,thinking what if I lost mine.
Its nice to encounter honest, helpful strangers these days.
 
I understand how you wish you'd have given her the "finders fee"....those are just missed opportunities that happen when the moment happens too fast, BUT I do believe that she will be rewarded somehow by someone.
Kudos to her and I'm glad you have your Umnumzaan back.
 
Glad it was only a momentary loss!:thumbup:

I bet the lady wouldn't have accepted that $20 anyway so don't sweat it ;)
 
I'm glad it didn't stick in your foot when you stood up. Also, glad you didn't lose it for good.
 
Glad you got your Mighty Zaan back, hats off to the Patriot who returned it and to you too for taking your buddy and his son out to dinner.:thumbup:

Agreed :D As for me taking my pal and his son out, it's the least I can do. I owe the guy a tremendous amount -- he's helped me take my lifting to the next level (he's a former Olympic weightlifter, Atlanta 1996) and he's helped me turn my life around in more ways than one. He's taught me real discipline.


I'm glad it didn't stick in your foot when you stood up. Also, glad you didn't lose it for good.

It was closed :D

I bet the lady wouldn't have accepted that $20 anyway so don't sweat it ;)

I agree, the lady probably wouldn't have accepted the cash, but it would've been nice to offer.

At any rate, it's an important lesson to (re)learn to always keep everything in its place. If the knife's not in my hands, it's in my pocket.

And you can bet I'll pay it forward.
 
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I'm really happy for you that it was returned by an honest citizen, it's too bad that the shock of it all put you off enough to forget to give her a reward- but it is understandable.
Your feeling bad for not doing it says all I need to hear about your character and I'm sure that your thank you's were sincere enough to get the point across to her.

On the other hand, a kid who sprayed my truck bed with Line-X today left his brand new iPhone in my truck when he was done ( and oh boy do I want to upgrade my old iPhone -4 to a 5 ), I promptly turned around and took it back to him. While in shock realizing that he had nearly lost a very expensive item, he thanked me profusely but offered no reward; nor did I need one, not only did it feel good to do the right thing but I figure that it's one more check on the good side of charma and if I can get a few thousand more I may finally get back to having some good luck myself.
 
Glad you got your knife back. Glad that someone was nice enough to be honest, though they probably didn't understand the significance of what they were holding when they decided not to pocket it.

If I didn't have any $ to give the person, I would have gone and acquired a $20 from the ATM and returned.

People like that are rare, and they are often overlooked because they are good people. The reason they are on the decline, is that most people realize it's a loosing game to be honest/nice/polite.
 
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